GCSSI

BHP maintained full-year production targets for every one of its sectors despite pressures created by labour shortages, the Anglo-Australian mining group said in its quarterly operational review on Tuesday.

The company said that pandemic-induced labour shortages had hit its iron ore operations in Western Australia, just days after rival Rio Tinto cut its yearly production forecasts for the same reasons.

BHP said iron ore production in Western Australia had fallen 6 per cent to 62m tonnes since the previous quarter, dragging its quarterly output of the steelmaking ingredient down 4 per cent year-on-year.

It said that the drop was mainly

Currency traders say the yen could be poised for further losses after the Japanese currency slumped to its lowest level against the dollar in three years, squeezed by the rising cost of the imported energy on which the world’s third-largest economy depends.

The yen sank to ¥114.38 to the US dollar on Saturday, a level not seen since late 2018, after three weeks of steep declines. Investors say the global surge in energy, which means Japan’s importers will have to sell increasing quantities of yen to purchase oil and gas, has triggered the recent moves.

But the yen has also